Study finds higher-education is a 'minefield'

"One hurdle facing kids leaving high school is that we offer little useful information on pathways between career programs and jobs," said Mary Alice McCarthy, author of the report and a policy analyst at the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C., based think tank. But that’s just part of the problem, McCarthy argues. Another is that our post-secondary education system was designed for four-year bachelor’s degrees, even though over a third of today’s post-secondary students complete vocational programs. “The policies we have that help people go to college aren’t designed to help people get jobs,” McCarthy said. “The truth is we don’t really have a job training program. Our higher education policies are not designed to support quick transitions back into the labor market.”